Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

D.W. Griffith (scenario)
Anita Loos (titles)

Release Date:

5 September 1916 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

The Cruel Hand of Intolerance

Plot:

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Plot Keywords:

Intolerance | Judea | Jesus Christ | Massacre | Reformer

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Mae Marsh	...	The Dear One (Modern Story)
Robert Harron	...	The Boy (Modern Story)
F.A. Turner	...	The Girl's Father (Modern Story) (as Fred Turner)
Sam De Grasse	...	Arthur Jenkins (Modern Story)
Vera Lewis	...	Mary T. Jenkins (Modern Story)
Mary Alden	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Eleanor Washington	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Pearl Elmore	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Lucille Browne	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Julia Mackley	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story) (as Mrs. Arthur Mackley)
Miriam Cooper	...	The Friendless One (Modern Story)
Walter Long	...	The Musketeer of the Slums (Modern Story) / Uncredited Babylonian Warrior (Babylonian Story)
Tom Wilson	...	The Kindly Policeman (Modern Story)
Ralph Lewis	...	Governor (Modern Story)
Lloyd Ingraham	...	Judge of the Court (Modern Story)

Also Known As:

Intolerance (USA) (short title)
Intolerance: A Sun-Play of the Ages (USA) (copyright title)
The Mother and the Law (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

163 min | UK:178 min (2000 video release) | USA:197 min | Spain:197 min (DVD version) | Spain:123 min (TV version) | Argentina:175 min

Country:

USA

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | South Korea:12 (2003) | Australia:PG | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Triangle Film Corporation

Trivia:

The staging and art direction of the Babylonian scenes were largely inspired by the works of 19th century painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening of the Babelonian story, shortly before the intertitle reading "Dearest one - in the ash heaps of my back yard...etc." (spoken by the Rapsode), a group of extras behind the Mountain Girl are shown get up and walk off to the left. In the next shot, when the Rapsode puts his face up to the Mountain Girl's ear to speak his line, these extras are shown to still be seated in their former places.

Quotes:

The Dear One: I'll walk like her and maybe everyone will like me too.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)

The most ambitious film ever made

Incredible that in 1916 Griffith embarked on a film with four different stories intercut to indeed present "love's struggle through the ages". This really is the ultimate epic film, no film before or since can really match it for ambition or scope. Lillian Gish believed it was ruined when Griffith cut it down from his original version, destroying the narrative flow but the extensive intercutting gathering speed and intensity towards the end was hugely influential particularly on the Soviets and directors like Hitchcock who liked to turn the screw with mounting suspense. Its not a film though to show a newcomer to the silents, it requires some experience of silent drama. People in 1916 were either amazed by the spectacle or baffled by it, one reviewer said they feared Belshazzar would be knocked down by an automobile at any second.